Pervez Musharraf Indicted in Benazir Bhutto Murder Case Tuesday Aug 20,2013

Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's former military ruler, has been charged with murder of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who died in a gun and bomb attack in December 2007

On December 27, 2007, as Benazir Bhutto stood from the sun roof of her white Toyota Land Cruiser to wave to a waiting crowd of people as she left Rawalpindi’s main public ground, the historic Liaquat Bagh, after speaking at an election rally, a gunman in the crowd pulled out a pistol. From a distance of two to three meters on the left side of the barely moving vehicle, he took aim and fired three shots at the Pakistan People’s Party leader. It was exactly 5.14 p.m. At the second shot, Ms. Bhutto’s white dupatta and her hair flick upward, but there is no evidence to link the bullet to the movement. At the third, she starts to move down the vehicle. The gunman, meanwhile, lowers his gun, looks down, and detonates explosives strapped to his body

The three shots, according to a video analysis by Scotland Yard now quoted in a report by the UN Commission of Inquiry into the Facts and Circumstances of Benazir Bhutto’s Assassination, were fired in less than one second. It took just 1.6 seconds from the time of the first shot to the detonation of the bomb

Pervez Musharraf was charged with murder, criminal conspiracy for murder and facilitation for murder," public prosecutor Chaudhry Azhar said at the anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi hearing the case on Tuesday Aug 20,2013.The decision by a court in Rawalpindi marks the first time Musharraf, or any former army chief in Pakistan, has been charged with a crime


Note
Pervez Musharraf(69)who attended court proceedings amid high security, denied the charges and the case was adjourned until August 27,2013
Six other people, including two senior police officers, are also facing charges in the case
Pervez Musharraf seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999, and was forced out by a democratically elected government in 2008
The case of Benazir Bhutto's murder is one of several that Pervez Musharraf is facing since his return from self-imposed exile earlier this year
Bringing charges against a former army chief is an unprecedented move in a country ruled for more than half of its history by the military
Amnesty International has demanded that Pakistan hold Musharraf accountable for all rights violations committed during his rule